Just Another Silly Schoolgirl Crush
by Laureen Lycan
Summary: What exactly did Hermione mean by, "I've been covering up for you!" in PoA? And more importantly - why? Very fluffy toward the end, in my opinion. Don't worry! Nothing illegal here at all! PG to be safe.


A Silly Schoolgirl Crush

_Summary:  Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, chapter "Cat, Rat and Dog" page 345 (in the hard-cover edition)  " 'I didn't tell anyone!' Hermione shrieked.  'I've been covering up for you –' "  _

_What exactly did Hermione mean by "I've been covering up for you?" and more importantly – why?  _

_Disclaimer:  I own NaDa that you see here.  It all belongs to J.K. Rowlings.  One piece especially belongs to J.K. Rowlings, but I distorted it to add in Hermione's emotions and I only used it to help me in my fiction._

It was five o'clock in the evening, and as usual, Hermione Granger could be seen sitting at a table in the library, poring over several thick volumes at a time.

            She had the book standing on the table, her hands clenching the sides of it almost possessively, covering up the faded gold lettering on the cover spelling out, _Transfiguration:  Wand Movements and Techniques Made Easy._

Hermione removed a hand from her vice-like grip on the hardback cover and nervously bit her thumb.  What the people around her didn't know was that she in fact had a smaller book concealed behind the large tome.

            _Behaviors and Habits of the Modern Day Werewolf_

It hadn't taken her long to figure out, of course.  She had known ever since she did Professor Snape's essay.  And now that Harry and Ron refrained from speaking to her any more, she had loads of time to find information on the subject.

            She paused, the thought of her former best friends causing her eyes to sting.  She quickly forced them from her thoughts and concentrated on the matter at hand.

            She had kept it a secret, of course.  Though why exactly she did, she never gave much thought to.  She had never gone out of her way to keep people from finding out, though, naturally.  Though…there was that one time…

_**FLASHBACK**_

            _She was sitting at the same table, reading a volume she deemed as helpful for her Potion's assignment when Padma Patil and Terry Boot entered._

_            She didn't pay much attention to them until she heard Terry speak._

_            "I'm telling you, Padma, it's just too much of a coincidence.  Think about it.  Premature aging, his disappearances around the full moon…"_

_            She stiffened._

_            "I don't know, Terry," Hermione overheard Padma saying doubtfully.  "It seems too rash to automatically assume he's a werewolf just because he's been absent during most of the full – "_

_            Padma was interrupted by Terry._

_            "Not most of the full moons, Padma: All of them._

_            Hermione shut the Potion's book and began to think quickly._

_            "Do you reckon the rest of the professors know?"  Terry whispered urgently._

_            Hermione shut her eyes in horror.  Terry might keep his mouth shut about this, but Padma would surely tell her sister and if Hermione knew Parvati Patil, it would be all over the school by sundown tomorrow._

            "I don't think so," she whispered back.  "Who in their right minds would hire a werewolf?"

_            The two students heard a loud, "Tuh," and they turned around to see Hermione Granger behind them, her hands on her hips and a very stern look on her face indeed._

_            "Honestly, you two!" she said impatiently.  "Of course Professor Lupin isn't a werewolf!  Do you honestly think the staff would allow a werewolf to be teaching the students?"_

_            Terry seemed to grow annoyed at this.  "Very well, Miss Smarty Pants, what's your explanation for his mysterious disappearances?"_

_            Hermione didn't skip a beat.             _

_            "He's the DADA professor!  So naturally, he has to have _some_ background on the subject.  I imagine that during the full moons, Professor Lupin goes out monitering the behavior of dark creatures or some such study.  I've heard they get very strange during the full moons.  In fact, I've read somewhere that –"_

_            Padma cut her off.  "Well, what about his premature aging, then?  A man his age isn't supposed to have grey hair!"_

_            Hermione shrugged.  "Look at his robes.  It's obvious that the man has had a lot of stress in his life.  That must have a lot to do with it."_

_            Terry still looked doubtful, but Padma sighed impatiently.  "You see, Terry!"  She gathered her books.  "You always blow things out of proportion!" She shook her head and nodded a good-bye to Hermione.  "See you tomorrow in class, Terry, Hermione."  _

_            Terry grinned sheepishly and stood up.  "See you, Hermione."  He shook his head.  "Guess I'd better go tell my dorm mates and Finch-Fletchley that their theories were incorrect."_

_            With that, he gathered his materials and followed Padma out of the library._

_            Hermione watched until they were out of sight before collapsing down onto the nearest chair._

_            She didn't notice a certain professor slip silently out from behind a bookshelf and out the library door._

_**END OF FLASHBACK**_

            She chewed on her quill thoughtfully.  Come to think of it, she could think of several other occasions where she managed to cover up for him.

She'd never admit to anyone, not even herself why she went out of her way to prevent the students from discovering his secret.  With a final grin upon the subject, she wondered what Professor Lupin would say if he found out.  She shrugged and closed her books, replacing them on their original shelves.

**In the Shrieking Shack**

Hermione shrank down by the door, helplessly watching Harry point the wands toward Sirius Black.  Ron was over there, on the bed, nursing his broken leg.  There was Crookshanks; ready to sacrifice himself to save this Azkaban Escapee that Harry was about to kill.  

She couldn't move, she was so terrified.  If Harry wanted to kill Black, there was nothing she, Ron, nor Crookshanks could do.  She wanted to shut her eyes – to block out the horrific scene in front of her, but it seemed as though her eyelids had been glued open.

It took her a while to realize that the muffled noises coming from the floor below her were footsteps, but that was all it took to rouse her again.  

"WE'RE UP HERE!" she heard herself scream, as if she was outside her body, watching herself.  "WE'RE UP HERE – SIRIUS BLACK – _QUICK_!"

Her voice back, the rest of her senses followed suit.  She stared at the door, not caring if Voldemort himself burst through, so long as he would break this horrible picture that had been painted before her.

No one saw the reddish tinge on her cheeks, nor her wide-eyed expression when Professor Lupin crashed (literally) into the room.

She supposed it was then that she realized it.  Realized why she had kept his secret.  She gazed at him in the doorway, his light brown hair disheveled slightly from the run upstairs, his bright amber eyes darting back and forth, looking around himself in near-panic.

            He must have shouted something because she felt the wands fly out of her hands.  She didn't even realize she was still holding onto them.

            She continued watching him, staring, even, if you want to call it that.  But it wasn't until he pulled Sirius up and hugged him that she realized what was happening.  She felt her mouth drop open.  She felt like an anvil had plummeted itself into her stomach.

            _I knew it…_ she thought over and over again.  _I knew what he was…  Did I really think I wasn't fooling myself?  Thinking he was the soft, kind-hearted man he pretended to be?  _

            She felt tears well up in her eyes, but she fought them back.  She didn't even plan on exploding at him, but it happened all the same.

            "I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" she screamed. 

            Professor Lupin suddenly let go of Sirius Black and turned to her. 

            "You – you – "   

            "Hermione –"

            "- you and him!"

            He was looking at her in genuine concern, she knew, but it didn't seem to matter.  She was beyond self-control at that point.

            "Hermione, calm down – "

            It made her heart wrench the way he was looking at her.  It made her stomach and heart jolt, but that only seemed to worsen her pain by a tenfold.  Perhaps that was why she slipped up.

            "I didn't tell anyone!" she heard herself shout.  "I've been covering up for you – "

            "Hermione, listen to me, please!" he shouted.  "I can explain –"  

            That was the first time she had heard him yell.  That was probably the reason why she shut up.   

            She collected her breath and suddenly remembered the other presences in the room after Harry spoke up.  

            "I trusted you!" Harry shouted.  "And all this time you've been his friend!"

            She bit her tongue.  She wasn't going to slip up again.

            "You're wrong," she heard Lupin say.  "I haven't been Sirius' friend, but  I am now – Let me explain…."

            That did it.  She was tired of hearing him say, "let me explain, let me explain."  Well, if he wasn't going to, she would.

            "NO!" she screamed.  "Harry, don't trust him, he's been helping Black get into the castle, he wants you dead too – _he's a werewolf!!"_

            Hermione woke up in the hospital wing the next morning.  She glanced at her watch on the bedside table.  

            5:01 a.m.

            She looked over at Harry.

            Asleep, still.  

            Suddenly, she knew what she had to do.  The sun was nearly up – Professor Lupin's transformation should be over.

            She found her wand by the bedside table and quickly transfigured her hospital dress into jeans and a t-shirt.  She found her sneakers by the bedside and quickly put them on.

            In the early morning, before most of the occupants of the castle were up, Hermione slipped out of the castle and into the Forbidden Forest.

            A quick locating spell showed Hermione where she'd find him.

            The damp branches and undergrowth of the forest crunched lightly under her sneakers.  A light breeze welcomed her as she stepped into a clearing, and there, asleep in tattered and shredded robes lay Professor Lupin, snoozing gently under a tree.

            She glanced at her watch.  5:53.  She didn't have much time.

            Slowly, she walked over to him and knelt by his side.

            She studied his face.  Troubled and exhausted.  A stand of golden brown hair fell over his eyes.  She brushed it back lightly and allowed her hand to gently caress the side of his face.

            His eyes fluttered open upon contact and he blinked dazedly up at her.

            "Hermione," he muttered and he sat up and looked around, the previous nights events coming back to him.

            He looked at Hermione, wide-eyed.  "Oh, gods…I didn't hurt –"__

"No, no," she interrupted, shaking her head.  

"We're all alright."

He nodded slowly and eased himself back against the tree, trying not to wince.

They sat in silence, and although Hermione feared he would ask why she was out of the castle, that wasn't the question he inquired of her.

"Hermione," he began.  She looked up at him.

"Why didn't you tell anyone?"

She didn't answer him, but only kept gazing up at him, a glint of sadness in her chestnut colored eyes.

He tried again.

"I was in the library at the time…when Terry Boot and that Ravenclaw girl were talking."

She drew a breath and shut her eyes, dreading what she thought was coming.

"You never told anyone, and you covered up for me."

            He gently took her chin and tilted her head upwards to look at him.

            She was surprised to see him smile gently and she couldn't help but be entranced by the familiar glimmer in his eyes.

            "...Thank you," he whispered.

            She didn't realize tears were beginning to build up in her eyes until she blinked and felt them slide down her cheeks.

            "Hermione," he sounded both confused and concerned to her.

            "What's the matter?"

            To his great surprise, she flung her arms around his neck and sobbed into his mutilated robes.

            It didn't help matters any when he returned the hug.   Not because it was out of concern, because in part it was, but because it had _some_ level of emotion in it, even if it was mostly just gratitude.

            She pulled away, finally, leaving a wet spot on the shirt underneath his robes.

            "I'd better go back to the castle," she whispered.

            He nodded.

            She got up to go, but he caught her wrist suddenly.

            She turned back and was suddenly surprised to see the sad, lost, expression in his eyes.

             "I'm resigning today, so I just wanted to say –"

            She nodded.  "I know."  She smiled at his amazed expression.  "That's why I came.   I wanted to say – "

            He looked at her with his intense amber eyes and finished the sentence for her.  

"Good-bye."    


End file.
